The Crow: Eye for an Eye
by Squall Leonhart1
Summary: I suck at summaries. Just R & R, please!


**The Crow: Eye for an Eye******

Well, I guess I'll start by introducing myself.My name is Shawn Hetfield.I'm just an average teenager from a small town in southern Ontario.Six feet, two hundred pounds, black hair, blue eyes, and seventeen years old.I have a girlfriend, named Angel.We spend all our free time with our friends, doing homework, crap like that.That's all I really have to say about myself.

My story starts one day during a regular school day at our school.It was Friday, getting close to the summer vacation, and prom was even nearer.Not a single person in that school who was a senior was thinking about school.They were all thinking about summer jobs, girlfriends or boyfriends, prom, anything but school.I must unfortunately include myself in this number.My mind had decided to take an early vacation sometime last week, and I've just been going through the motions ever since.I sat in my fourth period class, coasting my way through the ensemble piece that I was playing with some of my classmates for my final music exam.I'd already played it for an exam about two years ago, so once I got back into it, it was fairly easy.

As we were going through one part of the piece that some of the people who hadn't played it before were having trouble with, we were paged over the school's P.A. system.

"Hello, is Shawn Hetfield there?" the person on the other end asked.

"Yes" I replied, "I'm here."

"Could you come down to the office for a moment?There's someone here to see you."

I looked at my partners for the ensemble exam, and they gave me a nod of approval."All right," I said, "I'm on my way down."I went down to the office, wondering who this mystery person was that pulled me out of a practice.Whoever it was would have my undying gratitude.I opened the door to the office, and I saw the person who must have called me down here.

My girlfriend, Angel, waited for me at one of the tables in the office usually reserved for the people who are in deep trouble for some reason or another.When she saw me, she got up and gave me the mother of all hugs."Happy birthday, lover-boy," she whispered in my ear.

Shit.I'd forgotten about my own birthday.It was today, and Angel had been hinting she might give me a surprise for my birthday."So, Angel-o-mine, what did you call me down here for?"

"You should know," she said, a mischievous smile creeping across her face.She was younger than me by about two months, and she was also, by far, the more attractive of the two of us.She had shoulder-length light brown hair, dark eyes, and a face that made my heart melt and picked up my spirits however bad I felt.I always wondered how I got so lucky as to get someone like Angel all to myself.

As I was dwelling on how lucky I was, Angel grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me out of the office.We went through the halls of our beloved school, and ended up at her locker."Angel," I said, with mock timidness in my voice, "what the hell are we doing?"

"I'm giving you your birthday present, silly," she said to me in that naturally cheery voice she has.She reached into the back of the shelf in her locker, and pulled out a small box."Well, what are you waiting for?" she said, more excited than usual."Open it!!"

Taking a deep breath, I undid the ribbon holding the box shut, and removed the lid to take a look inside.In the box was a small keychain with a key attached to it, with the number 1009 on the keychain.My heart skipped a beat as I realized what my present was going to be."I'll be damned," I whispered under my breath.

"After school we'll go to the motel and spend the night there.As for what we do with the time, well...." she let the though trail off, knowing what I was thinking.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" I heard someone say.I turned around to see the one person I can say that I truly hate.His name was Mike Johnston, and he was my only true enemy in the entire school.He thought he was God's gift to everyone, and didn't take kindly to me getting the girl he had lusted after since the ninth grade.As far as I know, that was the only reason he hated me.I didn't really think about him, but this guy could pick the worst times to make me think about him.He grabbed at the box, and I couldn't pull it away from him fast enough to keep it from him.A look of pure hatred and rage crossed his face when he realized what it was that was in that box.

"You fucking son of a bitch," he whispered.Me and Angel were both starting to get scared.Neither of us had seen him this angry before.His temper was even shorter than mine, if half the rumours I'd heard about him were true."You Goddamn motherfucker," he said, with the mandatory 'f' word.He suddenly dropped the key and rushed at me with all his strength.Unfortunately for me, he was stronger than me, and he knocked the wind out of me.He sat on my chest an proceeded to pound on me with his fists.I tried to block his shots as best as I could, but he was connecting with some of his punches.Just then, a teacher came into the hall, and saw what was happening.

__

_"Get the hell off of him right now!!" _I heard a teacher yell.Mike immediately got off of my chest, and feebly tried to defend his actions to the teacher.The teacher would have none of this, however, and sent Mike directly to the office.After I got up, I brushed myself off, and tried to get my head back on straight."Are you all right?" the teacher said.I looked over, and saw that it was Mr. Waltman, my English teacher.

"Fine, Mr. Waltman," I said.

"Good.I hope you have a better weekend than what this may promise," he said.He gave us a smile, said happy birthday to me, and walked away.

When he was out of sight, I slumped against the lockers and slid down to the floor.That jumping took a lot more out of me than I thought.Angel kneeled beside me, trying to make sure I was all right.After I had her reassured that I wasn't going to die, she escorted me back to my music class.I told my ensemble group what had happened downstairs so they wouldn't tear me apart, and we managed to get through the piece before the end of the period.I had fifth period off today, so I went to the library to get some work done.

I was sitting in the library, just typing away like a madman trying to write a story that I had to do for my English writer's craft class, when an announcement came over the P.A.I was apparently wanted in the office again.God, twice in one day.The way my luck had turned earlier, I hoped that it was Angel again.I was disappointed.

The principal had called me down to the office to get my side of the story.Mike had apparently been feeding the office a ton of B.S. about what had happened.I told them exactly what happened, and they told me that Mike would get expelled for this incident.Shit.If Mike got expelled because of me, he'd try to kill me.

**********

After school, me and Angel met in the school parking lot.We'd decided that we would both use a payphone at the hotel we were going to to call our parents and feed them some story about us staying overnight at a friends house.I drove to the hotel, and after we both had called home, we went up in the elevator to our room.

"Well, people are always telling us to get a room," Angel said as she closed the door behind herself."Now they can't complain."

"I can just hear the comments from our friends now," I said as I fell onto the bed."'So, did you make a lot of noise?' 'How many times?'God, it's never gonna end."

"I certainly hope not," Angel said as she lay down on the bed beside me."I love you, Shawn."

"I love you, too, Angel," I said.

**********

In the parking lot of the motel, Mike sat in a pickup truck with his buddies, Ratboy, Jimmy, and Charlie.Mike had been ranting ever since he'd been sent home early after being expelled from school."Hey," Ratboy said, "are you sure they're in this motel?"

"Yes," Mike snapped, "now shut the fuck up, damn it!"

"What are you gonna do to him?" Charlie said."Huh?Huh?"

"Shut your trap, Charlie!" Jimmy said.Then, to Mike, "You sure you're gonna go through with this, man?"

"Goddamn right I'm gonna," was all Mike said.They all kept quiet, and sat in the truck, waiting for Mike to give the order to move in for the kill.

**********

Me and Angel were laying in the bed together, not really believing what we had just done had really happened.We had made love for the first time ever.We were in a state of complete bliss.This was the happiest moment of my entire life.

Angel yawned, and said, "I think I'll go down to the store on the corner and get us something to drink.Want anything in particular, honey?"

I started to giggle like an idiot.She'd never called me honey before.Maybe it was the sex.Something like that would never have phased me before."No," I said, through the giggling."Just get the first thing that catches your eye."

"All right," Angel said, slightly confused."Be back soon."She turned around and left.I'd never thought that something this good would ever happen to me.The only problem with this situation is that it can only go downhill from here.

**********

About two minutes later, I heard a knock at the door.I figured that it would be Angel, just remembering something she had forgot when she left.I opened the door, and was so shocked at what I saw that my jaw must have hit the ground.

Mike and his buddies (not by choice, I'm sure) were standing outside the room.Mike didn't say a word, as he shoved me onto the bed and walked into the room.His buddies followed him in and closed the door behind them, locking it.I got that impending feeling of doom in the pit of my stomach that death row inmates must get when they hear the phrase, "Dead man walking".

"You little cocksucker," Mike said to me, in the same tone of voice that he had used when he'd seen the hotel room key earlier that day."You fucked her, didn't you?"I just sat there, and said nothing.Dead men tell no tales."Well," Mike yelled at me, "answer me!You son of a bitch, answer me!!"

I sat there and let him figure it out for himself.He may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he wasn't a complete idiot.

He gestured to his buddies to hold me down.Jimmy and Charlie each grabbed an arm, and Ratboy grabbed my legs.Mike pulled a switchblade out of his pocket, and proceeded to walk towards me."After I'm done with you," he said to me as he neared me, "I'm gonna fuck the brains out of your pretty little Angel."

For me, that was the last straw.I began to struggle against the people holding me down.Jimmy lost his grasp on my right arm, and I swung at Charlie with it.It connected with his nose, and he let go of my left arm.I now battered at Ratboy with both of my free arms, and managed to succeed in making him let go of my legs.Just as I was standing up, Mike lunged at me with the knife, and stabbed me in the stomach.I looked down at the wound, and stood there with a shocked look on my face.While I stood there, he stabbed me three more times in the chest.No longer able to stand, I collapsed onto the bed, my blood staining the sheets.

Though I was in more pain than I had ever dreamed of, I still managed to keep from crying out.I simply looked up at Mike and said, "I swear, I'll come back.And when I do, You're going to die.You've just signed your own death warrant."

Mike just laughed, picked me up, and hauled me over to the window."You," he said, "are not in shape to be making threats to anyone right now."He signalled to Ratboy to open the window."I'll see you in hell," he said, and threw me out.

After a few seconds, I hit the ground.It felt like every bone in my body had shattered.The world started to go black.As my consciousness wavered, a bird landed on the ground beside me.

It was a big, black crow.

**********

I woke up.It's completely dark in here.Where the hell am I?I reach around.All I feel is some sort of padding on all sides of me.What the hell was going on here?I reached towards where the sky should be.The same feeling of padding above me, as well.It dawned on me that I was in a coffin.Oh my God, someone had buried me alive!I frantically scratched at the lid of the coffin.Felt the padding tear away from the lid.I pounded on the lid of the coffin, hoping to force the lid open.The lid gave way after two good shots of my fist.

I dug my way through all the dirt, and managed to get out of the grave.Why had someone buried me?I'm not dead!I turned to look around, and saw the gravestone at the head of the plot I had been buried in.

Shawn Hetfield

1981-1999

Beloved Son

A headstone that was engraved with my name.I reached out and felt it.It felt real.This had to be a dream.It just had to be.

__

_It's no dream,_said a voice._You are dead.Now you have come back._

I looked around for the source of the voice."Where are you?" I said."Who's out there?"

__

_Over here, _the voice said, _on the tree branch._

I looked at the tree branch nearby.On it sat a big crow."I must be going insane," I said."A crow talking to me."

__

_I assure you, you are not going insane,_ the crow said._You are, however, quite dead._

"I don't believe you," I said to the crow.I climbed the rest of the way out of the grave, and braced myself on the headstone.Suddenly there was a 

_ _

_flash_

__

_Angel and me, making love.Mike and his cronies.Stabbing, the pain.Mike throwing me out the window.The crow on the ground._

I shook my head, recovering from the sudden return of the memory."So," I said quietly, "I really did die.If I did die, then why am I here now?"

__

_Your pain brought you back,_ the crow said._The pain you felt when Mike stabbed you.The pain you felt when he said he would rape Angel.That is why you are here now.To set the wrong things right._

"Angel," I whispered.The thought of Mike raping my little Angel sent me into a rage.I punched the headstone of my grave, and it broke in half like a piece of cheap wood.I was so angry that I didn't even realize that the stone had shattered.

__

_So, _the crow said, _what are you going to do now?_

"First things first," I said."I'm going to go home and change into something more appropriate.Then I'm gonna go out and kill the motherfuckers that did this to me."I began to walk away from the grave, then out of the graveyard, the crow now perched on my shoulder.It was a cool night out.Well, you know what they say.Revenge is a dish best served cold.

**********

I got home about an hour after I had escaped my grave.It was starting to get a little muggy out.Not unusual for this time of year.Who knows how long I'd been dead.Could have been a few days, weeks... even years.However long it was, the crow wasn't telling me.I walked up to the door of my house, and was surprised to find it unlocked.I walked inside, and crime scene tape was strewn all over the place.I didn't like the looks of that.I called out for my mother and father.No answer.I looked in the living room.Nothing but more crime scene tape.I called for my parents again.Still no answer.I sat down on the couch, and had another

_ _

_flash_

__

_Angel and me, watching a movie.She falls asleep in my arms.I fall asleep.We don't wake up until eight AM._

I propelled myself off of the couch and ran into a nearby wall.I had another

_ _

_flash_

__

_Angel and me when we were six.We were playing hide and seek.I find her, and we laugh.Our parents walk in, and we all have a good laugh._

I get away from the wall, and fall to the floor on my knees.And I have yet another 

_ _

_flash_

__

_Mike, in my house, the day after he killed me.He has a gun.He finds my parents in their rooms, sleeping.he shoots them both, and laughs._

I scream like I've never screamed before.The flashes have shown me more than I can bare.I curl up into a ball on the floor, and quietly sob.Mike not only killed me, he went after my parents as well.God only knows what may have happened to Angel.

The crow has been strangely quiet through this whole thing.I look up to see him standing on a nearby bookshelf."Is it always like this?" I asked him."Am I always going to be having these flashes whenever I touch something?"

__

_Maybe, _the crow replied._Anything can trigger one of those memories.A touch, a smell, a familiar sound.Anything at all._

"Great," I said."Why would he kill my parents?Why didn't I come back sooner than I did?And why doesn't your beak move when you talk to me?"

The crow replied calmly, _I don't know why he would kill your parents.Maybe he thought that they would find out that it was him that killed you.You came back when you did for some reason not even I know.And my beak doesn't move when I speak because I communicate with you telepathically._

"Fine," I said, tears still coming down my face."How do I go about with what I need to do?"

__

_Simple, _the crow said to me._You make the wrong things right.You kill the people that did this to you and your parents.Jimmy, Charlie, and Ratboy were involved in the murder of your parents as well._

That made me even angrier.I didn't punch anything, though, for fear of having another flash.Instead, I went upstairs and tried to see if all the things I kept in my room were still intact.My room was still as messy as before.Books and magazines strewn about all over the place, an old calendar on the wall of my room, everything was just the way I remembered it.I went to the area at the foot of my bed, and looked for the trenchcoat that was sitting down there.I found it and tossed it onto my bed.I went into my closet and grabbed the black turtleneck shirt in there.I also grabbed the pair of black denim jeans that I happened to find in the closet.I put them all on after shedding the suit that I had been buried in.I went into my parents room, and grabbed my dad's black workboots and put them on.Then, I went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet.I grabbed the white face paint and the black lipstick applicator that I had used for a Halloween costume.I slathered on the face paint, and then grabbed the black makeup.I painted my lips dead black, with lines going on a little ways from each corner of my mouth, forming a sort of wicked smile.I then painted some of the area around my eyes black, with two black vertical lines going up and down from each eye.I stepped back to survey my handiwork.

__

_Not bad, _the crow said._It suits you._

"Thanks," I said.

__

_So, _the crow said, _now what are you going to do?_

"It's time to pay a visit to Ratboy.He'll be the first one to pay."

**********

Ratboy was sitting in his house, not paying any attention to anything but his hand, which was occupying itself with flogging his log.He was so engrossed with what he was doing that he didn't notice me tapping on the window of his living room.I tapped again, this time a little louder.He looked up this time, but he didn't see me, and went back to what he was doing.I decided that I didn't have time to dick around, and I crashed through the window.

Ratboy fell out of his chair, scrambling to get up and see what had been thrown through his window.He looked up, and when he finally saw me, a puzzled look crossed his face."Who the fuck are you?" he yelled.

"You don't remember me?" I said."I'm disappointed with you Ratboy.You should always remember your first time."

That puzzled look was still on his face.Then it dawned on him who I was."Oh, God," he said."Oh my _fucking _God."

"You can pray all you want," I said, sounding more insane by the second."No one up there is listening."I grabbed Ratboy by his shirt and threw him across the room like he weighed nothing.He stopped when he hit a wall, and slid down, barely conscious.

"What the hell are you, man?" Ratboy said, his voice quivering."I saw you hit the ground.You were dead!There ain't no comin' back.There ain't no comin' back!!"

I almost spared him in disgust.Almost.I grabbed a nearby wooden chair, and broke one of the legs off."You ever watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ratboy?" I asked calmly."Great show.Of course, you know how she killed those vampires."

"A st-st-stake through the heart," Ratboy managed to get out.

"That's right," I said."And guess what, Ratboy?That's how you're gonna die."

I picked up Ratboy by the throat, and held him against the wall.I reared back with the steak, and then I struck home.Right through his heart.The leg of the chair went so far through him that it ended up pinning him to the wall.

__

_Good work, _the crow said to me, flying in from outside._A little messy, but good._

"Glad I have your approval," I said sarcastically."So, what should I do next?"

__

_It's completely up to you, _the crow said to me._I can't tell you how to do what you must do._

"All right, then," I said."Let's head on over to Jimmy's house next.He can be my next calling card."

**********

After a little searching around Ratboy's house, I found the address for Jimmy's house.It wasn't very far from Ratboy's.Good.I don't have time to dick around with these assholes.I ran as fast as I could to Jimmy's house.

When I got there, I looked into the window of Jimmy's bedroom, and found him in bed with a girl I'd never seen before.I didn't want her to get involved, but she could be useful to me.I decided to let her stick around while I did my dirty work with Jimmy.

I climbed up a tree and to get to a higher point so I could crash through the window easier.I had discovered that crashing through a window can be pretty fun, especially if your aim is to scare the living hell out of the person occupying the room you crash into.I got to a good spot in the tree, where I had a clear view of the window, and then went flying.

I went through the window with no trouble, and with the results that I wanted.Jimmy jumped out of his bed, and the girl began to scream."Shut up and stay put, woman," I say to her.She does exactly as I ask her.

"Who the fuck are you?" Jimmy yelled."What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I'm the tax collector," I said with mock cheeriness in my voice."Your ass is six months overdue.Time to pay the piper, jerkoff."

A glint of recognition crossed his face as he slowly realized who was standing in front of him."We killed you," he said quietly."We killed you!"

"Yeah, you guys did kill me," I said."And you know, that made me kind of angry."

I grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into a wall.His head left a large indentation in the drywall where it hit.I let go of him and he slumped to the ground."You make me sick," I said to Jimmy."You're an even bigger lackey than Ratboy was.I made a pretty big mess dealing with him.For the sake of your woman here, I'll try not to be so messy this time."

"You won't be making any kind of mess now, dead man," Jimmy said to me as he pulled a gun out of his pants.He fired at point-blank range.The bullet hit me directly in the chest.What happened next amazed me probably most of all.Everyone in the room stood there in amazement as we all watched the bullet wound close within seconds.

"What the fuck...?" Jimmy said, sounding as dumbfounded as I felt.I didn't know I could do that.I tried to keep any sign of surprise off of my face.I didn't want him to know that I didn't know I could do that.

"Now look what you've done," I said, sounding slightly annoyed. "You put a hole in my favorite shirt!"I walked to where he was lying, and grabbed him by the hair, hauling him to his feet.ARemember, when you get to hell,@ I said into his ear, Ato say hi to Ratboy for me.@I whipped him around so his back was to me, and I snapped his neck.

Now for the girl.I walked over to where she was still on the bed, and grabbed her by the arm."Listen," I said to her."Your job will be to tell the rest of your bed buddies friends that I'm coming after them. Tell them that no matter how long it takes, no matter where they go, I'll find them.And they better hope I'm in a good mood when I do."

"Who are you?" the girl said.I was almost astonished.Those were the first words she had uttered throughout the whole time I had been in the room.

I gave it a little thought, and said to her, "Tell them that I'm a ghost from their past, and that I've come back to get my revenge."With that, I jumped out of the shattered window, and ran to the tree across the street.

The crow sat perched in one of the lower branches, and when he saw me coming, he flew down and landed on my shoulder._So,_ the crow said to me,_ where to now?_

"Time to take a break," I said."I have to check on Angel to make sure she's all right."

**********

It took me a while to get there from Jimmy's house, but I eventually got to Angel's house.Angel.The one person I had truly loved while I was still alive.I wondered if I should knock on the front door.No, what if her parents answered?It would be rather awkward, having to explain why I had been buried and was now back walking among the living.It would be hard enough trying to explain it to Angel.I decided to take the stealth approach.I found the ladder that they kept out back for emergencies, and took it around to the side of the house.I used it to climb up to the window of Angel's room, and I quietly let myself inside.The crow flew inside with me, so I told it to keep quiet.I hid behind the door to her room and waited for her to come in.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Angel came into the room.She turned on the lights and closed the door.Now or never."I missed you, Angel-o-mine," I said.

She whipped around to see who had said that, and when she saw me, she nearly started to scream.She would have, had I not put my hand over her mouth."Shhh," I said."It's just me.I won't do anything._Please_ don't scream."

She nodded her head, and I took my hand off of her mouth.She just stood there, looking at me for a few seconds.Then she threw herself at me and gave me one of those monster hugs that I remember so well."I thought you were dead," she said through the sobs."We all thought you were dead.You were gone for a year.We even had a funeral for you.I thought you were dead."

I pulled her away from my chest, and looked her straight in the eye."I was," I said.

She brought a hand up to her face to wipe away a tear rolling down her cheek, and said, "But if you were dead, how could you be here now?"

I don't know how I knew what to do next, but I just went on instinct.I slowly brought my hands up toward her head, and just prepared for the shock that always accompanied a flash.

She lived in seconds what seemed like an eternity to me when it actually happened.I showed her everything that had happened after she had left to get some drinks from the store that day.She lived it all, and I re-lived it, in just the space of a few seconds.

She looked at me after the flash was over, tears starting to well up in her eyes again.What she had just seen had scared her pretty bad.I just held her close, not wanting to ever let go.

Suddenly, I could hear a baby crying from somewhere in the house.A baby?Her parents had another child after I had died?

Angel grabbed me by the hand, and nodded for me to follow her.She took me to the room that they had used for a guest room the last time I had been here.The room was full of baby things.Angel walked over to the crib that was in one corner of the room and lifted the baby out.She began to sing to it, rocking it gently.AYour parents had another kid? @ I asked.

"No," Angel said, her voice growing slightly nervous."He's my son."

Oh my God.She had a son.My little Angel had met someone while I was dead and had a son by him.I was devastated."Well," I said, "I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed.You met someone while I was gone and..."

"No, Shawn," she said to me."He's _your_ son."

My jaw must have hit the ground.A son.I have a son!"You mean that that one time that we actually..."

"Yes," she said."We had a son!"

She handed the baby to me, and I held him as gently as possible.He looked just like Angel.He grabbed one of my fingers with his little hand.I just smiled, and he smiled back at me. I still couldn't believe that I had a son.Me, a father!

"His name is Shawn," Angel said to me."I thought it would be appropriate."

"He's beautiful," I said.I handed the baby back to her, and she put him back in his crib.

From downstairs, Angel's parents called to her."Angel," her mother said, "Is Shawn okay?"

"He's fine, mom," Angel said.Oh, crap.I hadn't thought that I might have to meet her parents.

"I'd better leave now," I said to Angel."Your parents might not enjoy finding a dead person walking around in their house."

"No," Angel said, grabbing both of my arms, "don't leave me again."

I just didn't have the heart to make her feel any more pain."Okay," I said, "I'll stay."Man, we were going to have a fun time trying to explain this situation to Angel's parents.

**********

Me and Angel walked downstairs.She put her hand out to me to make sure I didn't come the rest of the way down the stairs.She went down into the living room, and began her introduction."Mom, Dad, there's something I have to tell you... it's about Shawn."

"What's wrong, honey," her father said, "is he sick?"

"Not that Shawn," Angel said, "the other one.He didn't die in an accident like I thought."

"Then how did he die?" her mother asked.

"He was murdered," she said quietly.

"Oh, my God," her mother gasped."How did you find out?How do you know he was murdered?"

She took a deep breath, and said, "He told me he was murdered."

"What do you mean, he told you?" her father asked."Do you mean you saw him in a dream?"

"No," I said, "she means I told her."I stepped out from the shadows to reveal myself to her parents.There was a look of astonishment on their faces as they recognized me right away.

Me and Angel tried our best to explain the situation to them, but they still refused to believe that I was dead.I decided that the only way to make them believe that I had been dead for the last year was to do for them what I had done for Angel.

"Brace yourself," I said, "this may be a bit of a shock."I reached out to them with each of my hands, and prepared for the flash.

They relived the events the same way that Angel had minutes earlier.They saw Mike killing me. They saw the whole thing.They gasped when I took my hands away from their heads as the shock of living through someone else=s death set in.

"Why... why did you take so long to come back?" her mother asked.

"I don't know," I said."I was told that the time it takes to come back differs from person to person, but that the usual time is one year.But to me, it only felt like minutes."

"_Why_ did you come back at all?" her father asked me.

"Revenge," I said."I came back to make the people who did this to me pay."

At that moment, we heard a caw outside the window.The crow wanted inside.I went to the door and opened it to let the bird inside, where he perched on my shoulder."This," I said to them, "is how I came back."

Angel's father looked at me like I was crazy."You're telling me that a crow brought you back from the dead?"

"Yes," I said, "that is exactly what I am saying."

__

_Shawn, _the crow said to me, _we have to leave.Charlie is on the move.That_ _girl that was at Jimmy's went to him first.You have to get him before he tells Mike._

"All right," I said, "I'll get right on it."

"Get right on what?" Angel asked.

"Charlie is on the move," I said."He's on his way to Mike's to tell him that I'm back.I have to get to him before he tells Mike."

"How do you know that?" her mother asked.

"The bird told me," I replied calmly.

I was walking to the door, and was about to leave when Angel grabbed me at the door."Be careful," she said to me."I love you."

"I love you too, little Angel," I said.We kissed, and then when she finally was willing to let go of me, I left, running into the night, the crow easily keeping pace with me.

**********

I found Charlie's pickup truck stopped outside a Tim Horton's on the way to his house.I wasn't really surprised.A redneck like him would never pass up the opportunity for an iced cappuccino.

I decided that the front door would be a better approach than crashing through a window this time.I walked on inside, and was getting ready to kick some ass, when three cops stood up from their seats and pointed their guns at me.

"Stay right where you are," one of them said.It was a black guy, fairly tall, with a heavy build.The other two were white guys, medium build, and they were just trying their best to ape the officer that obviously outranked them.I could take them all without even trying, but doing that without killing them would be a problem.

"That's the guy!" Charlie was hiding behind them, jumping up and down."That's the guy that killed my friends!!"

"Yes, I killed them," I said in a monotone voice."Tell me Charlie... have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?" I said, quoting the Jokers line from Batman.

"Wh... what did you say?" he said, sounding even more scared than the two before him had.The cops trigger fingers were getting very itchy.They were nearly pissing themselves, except for the black cop, who had apparently dealt with crazy people before.

"It's just something I like to say to my prey," I said, variating another quote from Batman, "before I give them their ticket to hell."With this, one of the white cops jumped, and I took the opportunity.I lunged at the four as fast as I could, getting hit several times in the process.The bullets didn't phase me as I nailed the black cop first, then connected with a punch to the side of the head while he was trying to get of the floor.One down.

The two other cops almost crumpled the second I hit them.They were nothing without the black guy to back them up.I kicked one in the side of the head, and hit the other with a wild punch to the jaw.Three down.

Now all that was left was to take care of Charlie.I looked to the table he had been sitting at, and saw that he had managed to get away.I stood there and listened for a few seconds.I heard a sound coming from the bathrooms in the back.I walked back there, and saw Charlie cowering in front of the door to the men's room."You make me sick," I said to Charlie."You hide behind the law you broke so blatantly. You are the second-lowest form of pond scum I have ever had the misfortune to meet."

"Second lowest?" Charlie said."Who's number one?"

"I don't need to tell you that," I said, trying to sound as scary as possible."Time for you to pay the piper, Charlie."

Charlie began to scream as I picked him up by the back of his shirt.He struggled and thrashed about as much as he could, but with my crow-enhanced strength, he wasn't going anywhere.I went behind the counter of the shop, and went to where they had all the deep-friers.I turned on one of the deep-friers, and stood there waiting for the fat to warm up."You like donughts, Charlie?"

Charlie simply whimpered, finally realizing that he was going to die.

"I hope you do," I said."You're about to become one."

The fat in the deep-frier was finally at the right temperature.I picked up Charlie by the hair, and said, "Brace yourself.This may sting a little."

I completely submerged Charlie's head in the boiling fat in the deep frier.His body thrashed around from the pain of having his head deep-fried while he was still alive.After a few minutes, the thrashing started to calm down, and then stopped altogether.I let his head stay where it was in the deep-frier, and lifted my hand out of the fat.I stood there and watched it heal within seconds.

I decided to go back to Angel's house and make sure that she was all right.I wanted to see my son again before I went back to the land of the dead.I went outside, and the crow flew down to land on my shoulder from a telephone pole._What are you going to do now?_

"Back to Angel's house," I said."I want to say goodbye to her and my son before I take care of Mike."

**********

I went to Angel's house, and saw that someone had come there while I had been gone.I didn't recognize the car in the driveway, so I decided to be careful about barging in.I went around to the side of the house, and carefully peered into the kitchen window.I nearly started screaming in anger when I saw who was in there.

Mike had come to Angel's house while I was gone.The car in the driveway must be his.I ran around to the front door and nearly tore the door off its hinges in my rush to get inside.Mike came to find out what the noise was about, and his jaw hit the ground when he saw me."I killed you!"he screamed."I killed you!"

"Yeah," I said, "and as you can see, I'm kind of pissed off about it."

He pulled out a gun and was getting ready to fire.Out of nowhere, Angela jumped in front of me."NO!!" I yelled.But I was too late.Mike pulled the trigger, and the bullet meant for me hit Angel instead.

Angel collapsed to the ground, her blood coming out of the bullet wound to her stomach."Shawn,"she said,"I was trying to help..."

"Shh," I said."Keep quiet.You're going to be fine."

"Take care of my parents for me," she said."I love you..."Her eyes closed, and she was silent.

"You son of a bitch," I said."You motherfucking son of a bitch."

"Oh, my God," Mike said."What have I done?"

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" I yelled, blind with rage."YOU KILLED HER!YOU KILLED HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Mike said nothing, and ran to the door.I tried to grab him, but he was too fast, and my reaction was way too slow.He got into his car and drove off.

I went over to where Angel lay.She had lost a lot of blood.She had been trying to protect me, and now she was dead because of me.I dropped to my knees, tears rolling down my cheeks as I cradled her head in my arms.I had lost the only one I had ever truly loved.The best thing to ever come along in my entire life, and now she was gone.

"Oh my God!" her parents exclaimed.

"Angel..." I said."What did you go and do that for?I would have been fine."

"My little girl..." her father said, trying to hold back the tears.

"She never did anything to deserve this," said her mother."Why did it have to happen now?What are we going to do about Shawn?"

I gently laid Angel's head down, and got up from where I knelt."I have to go," I said."I'm going to find Mike, and I'm going to make him pay."I didn't wait for them to say anything, and I left the house, running as fast as I could.When I found Mike, he was going to die the most horrible death I could think of.I would make him pay for murdering my little Angel.

**********

I looked everywhere I could think of to find Mike, to no avail.I looked in the Tim Horton's where I killed Charlie.Nothing.I even looked at Ratboy's and Jimmy's house.He wasn't there, either.Finally, I decided to check the hotel where Mike had killed me a year ago.I found his car in the parking lot, and knew that I had found my prey.

I walked into the hotel, and the man at the desk looked up at me.He must have realized who I was here for, and he told me that Mike had gone up to room 1009.The same room that he had killed me in before.

I took the elevator up to the tenth floor, and walked to the room where the desk clerk had told me that Mike was hiding.He had locked the door.I simply ran at the door as hard as I could, and the door gave way like paper.Mike sat there on the bed, holding the gun that he had used to kill Angel.He looked up, saw I was there, and whipped the gun up, emptying it into me.I just stood there and let him watch the bullet wounds close.His grip on the gun loosened, and he let it fall to the ground.He then pulled a knife out of his pocket, the same one he had used to kill me.He lunged at me with all his might, the knife held out in front of him.I let the blade penetrate my chest, and Mike backed away, not believing what he was seeing.I pulled the knife out of my chest, let the wound close, and walked over to where Mike sat on the bed.

"Time's up, Mike," I said."You're going to die now."

Mike just sat there, saying nothing.He was still in shock from watching the bullet wounds in my chest close almost as soon as they had been inflicted.I grabbed him by the back of his coat, and dragged him across to the other side of the bed, to the side where the window was."You remember this, Mike?" I said."This is the same room where you murdered me one year ago.I may have survived the knife wounds, but because of the fall..." I let the sentence trail off."Now you get to find out what it's like to fall ten storeys to your death.I'm telling you, it's not a very pleasant experience."

I lifted him over my head, and threw him at the window with all my strength.He crashed through the window, and I watched as he fell to the ground below.The blood from his body splattered at odd angles, making a shape.

It was a crow.

**********

I returned to the cemetery where I had been buried, and sat down in front of the headstone of my grave.The crow sat behind me, saying nothing."What's it like?" I asked him."Do you know what it will be like when I go back?"

__

_No, _the crow said._It's different for different people.Some just fade away.Others leave their body and walk into a bright light.There's no way to tell what will happen._

"Can you do me a favour?" I asked.

__

_Depends, _the crow said._What do you need me to do?_

"Go and tell Angel's parents to take care of my son," I said."Tell them to make sure that he knows about us."

__

_I can do that, _the crow said.He took off, heading for Angel's house.

I sat there for a few minutes, just waiting for something to happen.After a while, a light appeared in front of me, and Angel walked out of it.She knelt beside me, and held me close to her chest."I love you," she said to me.

"I love you too, Angel," I said quietly.We got up, and she supported me as we walked into the light together.

THE END


End file.
